
It’s about time for a follow-up to The End of Higher Ed — Update #1 and what a joy to have one of my talented teenage daughters looking for the opportunity 🙂 If you have a story to share about one of this summer’s faculty conferences, please be in touch with me. Thank-you! ~ Thomas B. Grosh IV, Associate Director, Emerging Scholars NetworkÂ
Peace and Beauty . . .
The air grew crisp and it was so incredibly quiet… It wasn’t until we arrived at the lake that we realized it may not be the city at all that seemed so quiet, but the reality that 5 full of life kids were not with us. Either way, we missed our kids but relished in the calm and tranquil. We walked out in the waters. We felt the sand under our feet. We embraced the quiet and the beauty. I could feel the weight of 5 long, stressful weeks lift… I felt alive. Inspired. Refreshed. In awe. Captivated… I’ve never experienced water so calm…  It was like glass for as far as my eyes could see…until we stepped in and caused ripples… The quietness demanded attention in a way different from the thundering of towering waves hitting sandy beaches…Coming out of a period of treading water and trying to stay above the waves made me stop and rest in a new way in the calm waters. – Ashley Campbell, Don’t Forget You Love to Swim (Under the Sycamore, 9/15/2014)
This quote from Ashley Campbell from her blog, Under the Sycamore, describes a night at InterVarsity Cedar Campus almost perfectly. I don’t have five kids, a husband, and have never been to Great Salt Lake, but I still related to this. I had felt that peace and beauty. The creation just standing still and everything stopping. In that moment, I didn’t think about the daunting first day as a freshman in high school. I didn’t think about my friend’s problems, I didn’t even think about my imperfections. All I did was praise God. Over and over again, I remember saying, “Thank God. Amen.â€Â I remember thinking of song lyrics that described my feelings. [Read more…] about Peace, Beauty, Relationships: Teenage reflections on the MidWest Faculty Ministry Conference